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Coming into Thursday night’s game against the Calgary Stampeders, Chris Jones was a perfect three-for-three as a CFL head coach.

But by halftime, he had his first miss.

Jones called a successful onside kick and a fake field goal on a touchdown drive in a season-opening victory over the B.C. Lions.

He followed up with direct snap to short-yardage quarterback Pat White on a fake punt that also led to a touchdown last week to hand the Winnipeg Blue Bombers their first loss of the season.

So, when he called a fake end-around in his own end zone on a punt fake that came up half a yard shy of a first down that would have sent the two sides into the half tied 13-13, the odds were on his side.

Or they were entirely against him, if you consider he was due to have one to fall through.

Call it 50-50 then, which is fitting for a game that had a raffle pot approaching $350,000 to take home.

“We’re trying to score on every play, we’re not a concede-type team,” Jones said after suffering his first loss as a CFL head coach. “It’s one of those deals where it’s helped us win some ball games and, unfortunately (Friday) night, we gave them a short field and they ended up getting a touchdown.

“If we held them to a field goal, we win the game.”

Instead, the four-point difference was what went on to separate winning and losing between two clubs that last faced each other with undefeated records back in 1979.

The punt fake resulted in the worst possible outcome, having the Stampeders come up with a stop outside of the end zone before tossing the next snap for a touchdown and a 20-13 lead heading into halftime.

“If he can’t get the corner, he just takes the safety, that’s what the plan was anyway,” said Eskimos punter Grant Shaw, who handed the ball off to defensive speedster Aaron Grymes on an end-around. “I feel like it was a great call, but we came up a half-yard short.”

That time, anyway.

But, at the same time, the Eskimos tossed the proverbial gauntlet once again, alerting the rest of the league that they’re a squad capable of calling absolutely anything at any time.

Which is a far cry from the routine and predictable play-calling on display over the past couple seasons.

Call it their own brand of Esk-citement.

“A lot of us liked that call,” Shaw said. “We want our coaching staff to be aggressive and trust us and let us make plays. That play is on us to try and go out an execute it. We didn’t. I think we’re 75% on our fakes now. You’re not going to get them all.

“It was a momentum-swinger a bit, but we came in at half time and let it go and got out there and got back to work.”

With a bye this week, the Eskimos won’t be getting back to work again until next Friday, when they will begin preparations for an eastern road swing that includes stops in Montreal and Ottawa.

Thursday's Eskimos loss turned on a failed gadget play but the 4-1 squad has shown it will call any play at any time

Coming into Thursday night’s game against the Calgary Stampeders, Chris Jones was a perfect three-for-three as a CFL head coach.

But by halftime, he had his first miss.

Jones called a successful onside kick and a fake field goal on a touchdown drive in a season-opening victory over the B.C. Lions.

He followed up with direct snap to short-yardage quarterback Pat White on a fake punt that also led to a touchdown last week to hand the Winnipeg Blue Bombers their first loss of the season.

So, when he called a fake end-around in his own end zone on a punt fake that came up half a yard shy of a first down that would have sent the two sides into the half tied 13-13, the odds were on his side.

Or they were entirely against him, if you consider he was due to have one to fall through.

Call it 50-50 then, which is fitting for a game that had a raffle pot approaching $350,000 to take home.